'Indelible Ink' by Fiona McGregor Quiz

Answer: She needs to sell her family house.

One of the first things we learn about Marie is that she is going to have to sell her home, which she took in the divorce settlement from her ex-husband. Short of cash, she cannot afford the upkeep on the lovely home, into which she has placed so much effort over the years.

The garden is her special pride, and it grieves her that she must leave it. The discussion about the property value, and who she should choose to act as her agent, starts a number of recurring threads.

Answer: Sydney

Marie's house is in Mosman, a wealthy residential suburb in the North Shore region of Sydney. The house has a fantastic view of Sydney Harbour, as well as access to the harbour via a sloping garden and a stairway down the final cliff. Most of the action is centred in the northern suburbs of Sydney, but Moore Park and Kings Cross also play their part.

Answer: Ross

Ross is her ex-husband. Blanche has a successful career in advertising, while her brothers have not experienced as much traditional success. Leon runs a gardening business in Brisbane, while Clark is a perpetual student, who has just decided to give up his job and return to full-time study towards a doctorate.

Answer: Leon

Leon, who shares his mother's passion for gardening, is also homosexual, which alienates him from a sense of belonging to the North Shore culture in which he was raised. He is much happier up in Brisbane, where he is not constantly forced to confront the disappointment he believes his family feels in him. Nevertheless, he comes back to be with Marie in her time of need.

Answer: Susan Jones

Susan is Marie's best friend, somewhat ironically since each of them had, in the past, an affair with the other's husband. We never really work out whether these affairs are coincidental (after all, everyone who was anyone was having an affair with a friend's spouse) or whether there was an element of retaliation involved in Marie's affair with Jonesy, conducted primarily in the Jones family boat shed.

Answer: Tattoo parlour

Obeying a drunken impulse, Marie gets a tattoo on her ankle. This is a turning point in her life - she stops feeling like a leaf adrift in a stream that is pushing her along, and starts to engage in behaviours which she knows her family will find shocking, but which make her feel totally alive in a way she hasn't experienced for years.

Answer: Rhys

Rhys is a tattoo artist whose reputation is widespread in the tattoo community, and who commands a huge price for her work. Even though Marie has very little cash to spare, she arranges to see Rhys and get some chosen work tattooed on herself.

Answer: Flames tattooed on her stomach

Marie had seen the flames in a catalogue when she revisited the original tattoo parlour. When she inquired about the design, she was told that the artist no longer worked there, and was directed to Rhys's private address. When she talked to Rhys, she was told that the design would look best on her stomach, so that is where the tattoo was applied.

It took several visits, and a significant amount of pain, to complete the design.

Answer: Moth

Marie was so taken with the beauty of the moth that she decided to have Rhys engrave it on her back. This was a very painful tattoo, since much of the detail had to be applied along her spine (where the moth's body lay), and the bone is very close to the surface there. Nevertheless, Marie completed the moth, and proceeded to start on a tattoo of supporting foliage for it.

Answer: Stomach cancer

Marie discovers that the chronic indigestion for which she has been casually medicating herself over a number of years is actually stomach cancer, which has spread to multiple organs by the time it is diagnosed. The family dynamics change radically, but (despite the protests of her children) Marie continues with her tattoo plans until she is too weak to continue.